Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s provision of an Education Health and Care Plan. We will not investigate issues previously considered and decided and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s provision of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide we have previously considered and decided the same issues in an earlier complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. I considered Miss X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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My assessment

7. We previously considered and decided a complaint from Miss X about B’s EHC Plan. She is B’s mother. This earlier complaint covered a period in 2020 up to July. We will not investigate the same issues again.
8. Miss X has made a new complaint about the period following that complaint and failures going back some years. We should not look at either period of time as there is no good reason why the late complaint rule should not apply because:
1. The Council replied to her complaint about summer 2020 provision in September 2020. There is no evidence Miss X has actively pursued that complaint since then.
2. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to have complained about the earlier periods with her previous complaint to us.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no good reason why the late complaint rule should not apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman